DIY Internet Enabled Arduino Messenger

Is there anything that the Arduino microcontroller canâ€™t do? Just look at the vast assortment of applications in Top 40 Arduino Projects of the Web we’ve covered earlier. Here’s another awesome arduino project by Hans Scharler. Hans uses an Arduino to relay internet information from Web APIs to a serial LCD display.

Arduino is an embedded computing platform that uses a simple I/O board and a programmable software environment generally using C/C++ code. An Arduino can be paired with other hardware to develop interactive inventions. They can also be connected to software running on a computer. Newbies can look into our introduction guide on the Arduino to get started with their own projects.

The ioBridge IO-204 makes the handshake between the World Wide Web and the Arduino interface possible. The web enabled monitor, control and sensor module has a two way communication with the ioBridge.com servers. Configured through user friendly widgets on the ioBridge website, the IO-204 can be setup for remote control and monitoring without any knowledge of programming.

The internet enabled message center project is a computer less project using the ioBridge IO-204 as the web interface. The system is triggered by pressing push-buttons which separately query for temperature, stocks, and other data. One button which notifies Hans via cell phone if the button has been pressed.

When a button is pressed, the signal is transmitted to the Arduino. If itâ€™s local information like temperature from an analog source, then the Arduino handles it and displays the reading on the LCD screen. If the information has to be sourced from the web (like stock quotes), then it goes to the IO-204. The IO-204 connects to the Web APIs (e.g. Google or Yahoo for stock alerts) through the ioBridge.com servers and relays the info back to be displayed on the LCD screen.

Hans has provided the complete working of the remote message center on his blog along with the source code required to program the Arduino. Explore our broad section on Arduino hacks for more outstanding project